I've started playing DW a few weeks ago and I am very happy with this game (Most recent version, all addons). I think I worked out almost everything about how to play this game. Read alot on this forum and am grateful for the wealth of information and experience people put in here!

There is just this one minor thing I'd like to have confirmed:

Is there a way to quickly browse and find stations of anykind that do not belong to my empire but are on my territory? I noticed that the symbols of foreign stations on the main map only show up if they are within my scanner range. Lots of stations though, appear to be known, but I have to click and select each system to see if foreign presence is known there. The specific situation is the following: I am in the process of conquering a neighbouring empire piecemeal, discovering the 'disputed bases' section in the diplomacy screen, in which said empire has almost a dozen bases. Clearly these stations where built before I conquered the territory. Now the only way to find all these bases is to write the names down and find the acording systems/fogs on the main map? I want to make a cleansweep before negotiating the next peace.

So, is there a mechanism I have overlooked, or is there no other way than clicking through the main map? How do you folks handle this kind of thing?

Posts: 345
Joined: 5/28/2013 From: United States of AmericaStatus: offline

I would suggest making a "fleet" and not making them into a fleet then put them on auto. a fleet will also work just slower. if you build a set design for this role it would be effective for it to have boarding pods.

I have multiple smaller automated 'Patrol Fleets', and most, if not all of these foreign bases on my territory are within their operating range, yet even when at war with the owner of these stations they don't attack them unless I specificly order them (Which means I still have to know exactly where they are). Very rarely I get an advisor message saying that a certain fleet of mine is in a good position to take out a certain base of my enemy, if I approve they do it just fine, but it happens too seldomly.

I also have single ships on automation, lots of them, but they don't care at all about enemy bases on my turf....

Your patrol forces may be too small. If you automate a fleet, the computer will decide to send it against targets that have less than some fraction of the fleet's (or ship's) strength (maybe just firepower; I don't recall at the moment). This ratio can be set in the game options menu during play.

Another possibility is that your fleets decide to go attack the target, and run low on fuel halfway there and therefore turn around and refuel, and then get assigned to a. another job, or b. the same job, for which they still don't have enough fuel. The only reliable solution to this issue is to ensure a better supply of fuel to the area of operations (Resupply Ships, starbases with gas extractors on Caslon/Hydrogen sources as appropriate, gas mining stations, etc), or design your ships with greater operational ranges.

A further possibility is that your patrol forces may have more important targets available to them, however the computer defines 'important'.

It may also help you to have Long-Range Scanner coverage of most or all of your empire; I think the computer tends to prioritize targets for which there exists a recent sensor contact, and even if it doesn't scanner coverage will allow you to see stations on the main map without selecting the system or zooming all the way in to the system view.

I guess you mean the 'attack overmatch' slider under empire settings? I have not yet experimented with that, good call, thx! I'll try it and report what happens...

Fuel is definitely not the issue here, said bases are only a stonethrow away and my fleets could make the trip multiple times easily. They are also not occupied with another mission, they mostly just sit around and do nothing as long as no enemy ships intrude.

@ pycco:

Yea, that quick bar 'enemy targets' is a place where I would expect 'disputed bases' to show up, unfortunately it only shows enemy colonies and bases within my scanner range, pirate bases seem to be the exception here but the bases I am looking for are not in there. They are on my territory for sure, the systems and fogs where they are belong to my empire. I guess that is the condition for an enemy base to show up on the diplomacy screen. All those bases in question are AI built resource bases, so they are not very strong targets.

I think the issue is that the bases are in the fog and your maps only show what can be verified.

A map overlay that allowed you to see actual and "last reported" bases/ships would be useful, but only if used with care.

Maybe build a monitoring station with only 1 energy collector in every system you want to keep tabs on. Not sure what the maint cost would be for that. Probably more cost effective to stick with usual build w LRS.